


Priorities

by beformista



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Archon!Vetinari, Dragon Age!AU, Gen, Templar!Vimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29169555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beformista/pseuds/beformista
Summary: Captain Vimes has been called to the Cirlce of Magi in Minrathous to investigate a murder.
Kudos: 6





	Priorities

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Dana, with the best wishes on your birthday

The latest rumors in Minrathous are the old rumors: when the season seems a bit dry and does not provide enough entertainment, the old 'some people believe Vetinari doesn't have magic and has been duping the good citizens of Minrathous for ages' is always good for a laugh.

Well, people with more than a half braincell tend to ask, wouldn't he be long dead if that were the case? With no protection, that is? But it's less of an argument than those people expect it to be. After all, despite what magisters will have you believe, magic is not have-all be-all. There are other ways.

For one thing, those templars he took from the Divine and surrounded himself with seem like a good deterrent, doesn't it? The Templars haven't been the same ever since Vetinari became the Archon, they would say, and you could practically feel the grief over good ol' days when mages could do anything drip from those words, peppered with a little bit of fear. They all know how mages live in other places, after all. Who would want that kind of life here. Give Templars a finger and they'll bite your whole hand. 

And that Vimes fellow. Ever since he and Vetinari came back from Seheron, there's something wrong with him, isn't there? You can practically feel it, staying close to him, and he always follows Vetinari like a shadow. Both of those things are true, of course, Vimes thinks every time he comes within earshot of those rumors. There is something wrong with him, he repeats to himself, as he feels a shiver of something, something like magic that shouldn't be there, inside his mind. Come, now, the Guarding Dark answers in his mind, don't be rude.

As Vimes kneels next to the body on the floor to look at the wounds, he agrees that's fair. The Guarding Dark saved his life back there, from the kind of magic he still couldn't remember without reaching for a glass of something stronger. 

Vimes heard Wonse tap his foot repeatedly on the floor, clearly impatient to hear what he has to say, and hummed thoughtfully. Unlike back then, even the magic didn't save the First Enchanter of Minrathous Circle from having his throat slit. Maybe, he didn't have magic either. Wouldn't that be funny, if none of them did.

Having sufficiently admired somebody's handiwork, Vimes stood and looked around the room. If he figured out correctly what was going on here, there must be something... Ah, there it is. A piece of paper stuck far enough under the table that it doesn't scream that it was put there deliberately, but just sticking out enough to pick his interest. After all, haven't you heard? Vetinari has a whole army of mage killers ready to kill anyone who dislikes him. Just look at what he did to the First Enchanter of Minrathous Circle. 

Vimes gives his subordinates an order to search the room, and very casually, very thoroughly searches the table himself. Oh, Vimes thinks every time he comes within earshot of those mage killer army rumors, you poor idiots. If that were true, Minrathous wouldn't have a living soul left.

"Well?" asks Wonse, still impatiently tapping his foot. "Have you found anything?"

The piece of paper detailing Vetinari's orders to assassinate the First Enchanter disappears in Vimes's pocket. "The investigation is ongoing," he says. 

Sometimes Vimes wonders what it would be like, to actually accuse Vetinari of a crime, be it not one from a long list of those he'd committed. But as he enters the Palace and climbs the stairs towards Vetinari's office, to report his finding and pass the 'orders' to the man who supposedly given them, he dismisses the idea. 

He remembers the city Before Vetinari and he's not particularly eager to learn what it looks like After Vetinari. Now, the city, the country for that matter, as he can imagine, works. It doesn't work well, certainly, but it works, and you can't fight every dragon at once, especially if you have a feeling one of them may join you in the fighting. So, he knows where his loyalties lie.


End file.
